We started our unit on ratios yesterday in 6th grade.
I use something called Mathalicious as my curriculum. Mathalicious is all online and has some great real-world lessons. You can check out some of their lessons for free.
As wonderful as Mathalicious is, it cannot be a stand alone curriculum. I needed something to introduce ratios to my students before I dove into the first activity I had planned from Mathalicious.
I went straight to Pinterest.
What did we do before Pinterest?
Seriously.
I found two things that I thought would be great and they did not disappoint.
We started by watching this little clip from The Andy Griffith show.
I'm pretty sure I thought this was much funnier than my students did. Oh well! Still a fun introduction.
Next on the agenda was Froot Loop Ratios.
I found this activity here.
I pretty much kept exactly what she did, but added some things of my own. I was afraid the original activity would not fill my alotted time so I added some problems from some old math books I have in my room.
I also added a section where students get to choose things in the room to compare and write five ratios of their choice for things in the classroom.
This activity was a HUGE hit with my students. Of course it helped that I allowed them to eat their cereal once we finished the math.
It was a fun way to introduce ratios and I feel like my students really got it.
It's posts like these that make me want to finally make a pinterest account! I like how you followed an engaging video clip with an equally-engaging hands-on activity. That's a solid strategy.
ReplyDeleteI love how you implemented videos in your lesson, especially a show as great as The Andy Griffith Show! Our generation could learn a lot about life from that show! I hope when I have my own classroom that I will be able to come up with these clever ways of implementing fun activities into my lessons.
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